This weekly roundup of news from Mainland China, Taiwan and Hong Kong attempts to curate the industry’s most important news, including influential projects, changes in the regulatory landscape and enterprise blockchain integrations. Memecoin culture clash Feed Every Gorilla (FEG) was a source of drama after memes were posted of Chinese President Xi Jinping. The token claims to use its revenue to take care of gorillas and had been gaining attention among animal-related tokens, amassing a market cap of over $1 billion. Some Chinese community members found the memes offensive and, after not finding support from the team, began to abandon …

The United States Securities and Exchange Commission was one of the top regulatory enforcers for cryptocurrency projects in the last seven years, resulting in $1.77 billion in penalties. According to a report released yesterday by Cornerstone Research, the Securities and Exchange Commission, or SEC, brought 75 enforcement actions against crypto firms and individuals from July 1, 2013 to Dec. 31, 2020, mainly involving allegations of fraud or unregistered securities offerings. Many of the actions were litigated in U.S. district courts including the Southern District of New York, while others were resolved within the commission as administrative proceedings. Both often resulted …

The United States Securities and Exchange Commission, or SEC, has issued an investor warning pointing out risks of mutual funds that have exposure to Bitcoin (BTC) futures. In an official statement on Tuesday, the SEC strongly encouraged investors to thoroughly consider risks disclosure of a mutual fund on the Bitcoin futures market, stressing that Bitcoin is a “highly speculative investment.” The authority emphasized that investors should take into account the volatility of both Bitcoin and the Bitcoin futures market, as well as the lack of regulation and potential fraud or manipulation in the underlying Bitcoin market. “As with any fund …

Blockchain continues to occupy an unusual space in the contemporary technology sphere, with concepts such as “decentralization,” “transparency” and “immutability” continuing to slide between a purely technical meaning and a more overtly politicized one. Certain blockchain advocates — at least those still steeped in the libertarian ethos that has survived from its roots in the cypherpunk movement — continue to question the technology's implementation for projects like government defense contracts as well as its wider absorption into the traditional financial banking systems it was originally designed to circumvent. Earlier this week, Cointelegraph reached out to several executives at Fantom Foundation …

Neilmaldrin Noor, a spokesperson for the Indonesian Directorate General of Taxes, said that the authority is considering a tax scheme for capital gains generated from cryptocurrency trades, Reuters reported on Tuesday. “It is important to know that if there is a profit or capital gain generated from a transaction, the profit is an object of income tax,” the official stated. Noor said that Indonesian taxpayers who receive capital gain from crypto trades would have to pay the tax and report it to the government. The official noted that the new crypto tax scheme for capital gains has not been implemented …

Kazakhstan’s government is forming a roadmap to stimulate the development of the cryptocurrency industry and blockchain technology in the country. State authorities have reviewed proposals to address the crypto industry’s development and reconsider the state’s approach to regulating crypto operations, according to a Tuesday announcement on the website of the prime minister of Kazakhstan. Officials have proposed to run crypto exchanges via a major national financial hub, the Astana International Financial Centre. The government also suggested establishing standards, by which crypto exchanges can interact with local banks and clients. The new initiative aims to provide transparency and organization for the …

Stablecoins present peculiar challenges to regulators. Although there is no single, agreed-upon definition of a stablecoin, the common denominator of the commonly used definitions is that stablecoins are designed to maintain a stable value in relation to a specified currency, asset or pool of such currencies/assets. They are contrasted with regular cryptocurrencies, which have no such stability mechanism and whose values tend to fluctuate, sometimes even substantially. Related: All risk, no gain? The vague definition of stablecoins is causing problems Stablecoins do not denote a uniform category but represent a variety of crypto instruments that can vary significantly in legal, …

Crypto exchanges with a presence in Turkey must now inform the Financial Crimes Investigation Board, or MASAK, about any crypto transactions over 10,000 Turkish liras ($1,200). Turkish Minister of Treasury and Finance Lütfi Elvan announced the new policy on a CNN Turk live broadcast last night. Two weeks after a $150-million fraud involving a major crypto exchange in Turkey, Elvan shared updates on the government’s draft crypto regulation on live TV. Turkey’s central bank has defined crypto as a nonmonetary asset and banned the use of cryptocurrency as a form of payment. Elvan noted that the second step was to …

President of Tajikistan Emomali Rahmon is pursuing an ambitious integration of blockchain technology into his government's ongoing modernization drive. According to an announcement from smart contract platform Fantom, a new public-private partnership between the Fantom Foundation and the Tajik Ministry of Industry of New Technologies will see the two roll out a range of blockchain-based solutions across nationwide IT infrastructure. The scope of the partnership is to research, develop and implement various blockchain-enabled data-sharing, transparency and automation solutions. As a first step, the partners will establish a research and development hub to train local developers in building blockchain-based systems. In …

Recently confirmed U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission chair Gary Gensler punted to congress on providing more regulatory oversight to the crypto space, but also said the commission would act within its purview. In a virtual hearing held by the House Financial Services Committee today, North Carolina Representative Patrick McHenry asked Gensler what the regulatory body would be doing to ensure a “vibrant digital asset marketplace with legitimate money and the rule of law.” McHenry highlighted collaborations across regulatory agencies regarding digital assets and cryptocurrencies. Gensler said the crypto market could benefit from “greater investor protector” within the Securities and Exchange …

IndiaTech.org, an industry association representing India’s consumer internet startups and investors, wants to provide clear definitions for the cryptocurrency industry. On Wednesday, the association released a white paper including a policy proposal with recommendations for a regulatory framework for crypto assets and crypto exchanges in India. The proposed framework suggests to define cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin (BTC) as digital assets and not currencies. “Define cryptocurrencies as digital assets and not currencies and grant them recognition as digital assets like gold, stocks, or marketable securities,” the proposal reads. The framework further recommends introducing a registration system for India-based cryptocurrency exchanges as well …

Financial regulators in South Korea have asked banks to provide information on their dealings with cryptocurrency firms, a local outlet reported on Wednesday, as authorities seek to determine how many cryptocurrency exchanges operate within the country’s borders. An unnamed regulatory body has requested that banks reveal the corporate accounts of cryptocurrency exchanges that haven’t already implemented real-name accounts for its cryptocurrency customers. Only the four largest exchanges in South Korea have thus far set up real-name accounts, while the rest have until now been operating under the radar. “Currently, cryptocurrency exchanges can operate without permission from the government, which is …